In the electronic age in which we are living, electronic mail (e-mail) users are constantly being inundated with e-mail from various sources. For example, we receive e-mails from friends and family, business colleagues, and businesses trying to sell goods and services.
Since e-mail has become a frequently used method of communication, it is very inconvenient when an e-mail user changes e-mail accounts. The change in e-mail account is usually due to a change in e-mail system provider, which usually has no incentive for forwarding e-mails of previous system users. For example, the change in e-mail accounts may be caused by a change in employer or simply due to a users preference for a new e-mail system provider.
One method used to continue to receive e-mail from friends and family, business colleagues, and businesses trying to sell goods and services is for the e-mail user to notify e-mail senders of the change in e-mail provider and the address to the new e-mail account. While this can help to transition to the new e-mail system provider and to keep receiving e-mails, it can be undesirable and burdensome to be forced to contact each and every one who has the prior e-mail address. Additionally, contacting each of these e-mail senders does not guarantee that the e-mail sender will take notice of the new e-mail address. Thus, simply contacting the e-mail senders is not very helpful in many situations.
Another method used to continue to receive e-mail from friends and family, business colleagues, and businesses trying to sell goods and services is to sign up with an e-mail forwarding service, such as the one operated by Return Path. Return Path allows an e-mail user to register a new e-mail account. After entering a user name and password, the e-mail user enters an old e-mail account address from which the e-mail user wishes to forward e-mails and a new e-mail account address that will receive the forwarded e-mails.
During the registration process, the e-mail user has the option to specify how the e-mails from the old e-mail account will be delivered. As one option, the e-mail user may select that a message is first sent to the new e-mail account notifying the e-mail user that an e-mail addressed to the old e-mail account has been received. It gives the e-mail user the option to accept or reject the e-mail and provide the e-mail sender the new e-mail account address. Or as a second option, the e-mail user may select that e-mail addressed to the old e-mail account be directly delivered to the new e-mail account address and allow the e-mail user to use the e-mail in a standard manner.
One of the problems with using a method such as Return Path is that, in order for someone to send an e-mail to a new e-mail account, the e-mail sender must first know of the Return Path site. In other words, the e-mail sender must login to the Return Path site, find if the person they are seeking is registered, and only then can they send the e-mail with the old e-mail account address to the new e-mail account address. Therefore, unless the e-mail sender knows about the Return Path site, there is no way for e-mail to reach the e-mail user's new e-mail account, assuming the e-mail user has not posted the new e-mail account on the web and it happens to show up in a search engine.
Another problem with using a method such as Return Path is that for products such as electronic magazine subscriptions and other electronic products, if the e-mail user does not remember to change the e-mail account address where the electronic products are to be received, the sender of the electronic product will receive return messages indicating that the address cannot be found. Eventually, after trying to send the electronic product to the old e-mail address a number of times, the sender of the electronic product may give up and discontinue sending the electronic product. For these types of electronic products, which are usually sent through some sort of automated means, the Return Path method for forwarding e-mails may not be useful.
Thus, there remains a need for efficient and convenient systems and methods for forwarding e-mails to e-mail users, when a change in e-mail account occurs.